Damage Control
by ananonymousamongus
Summary: Five years ago, Saitama finally snapped and decided that this hero hobby wasn't worth it. No respect, no recognition, no appreciation...no thrill. Genos has dedicated his existence to saving as many lives as possible, following in the wake of the God level threat that roams the cities. The cyborg could never be so lucky as to be unnoticed for forever. (Villain Saitama AU)
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_** _ **This Genos has many differences from canon Genos.**_

 _ **1\. Can still feel pain**_  
 _ **2\. Still at least half human.**_  
 _ **3\. Much more reserved and less reckless - used to evaluating situations thoroughly and being well aware of his own limits and weaknesses.**_  
 _ **4\. Dr. Kuseno does not help Genos repair. Every damage Genos takes, he has to fix on his own. Therefore Genos does not fight, if he can help it. He sticks to rescue and disaster prevention.**_  
 _ **5\. Still has the same core as Genos, but otherwise he is not built for fighting. No built in flamethrowers/guns/etc. Still has advancements to brain and optics that allow him to calculate, track, sense life signs, etc.**_  
 _ **6\. Probably other things.  
-**_

There would always be at least a small part of Genos that would never become numb to the devastating destruction he beheld as he dutifully followed in the wake of the God Level Threat villain. Yes, it wasn't uncommon for the man to leave only one or two buildings damaged - not even he was always out to cause mayhem - but even if it were only once every ten years, the disaster Genos found himself staring at now…

..it was too much.

97% of his modified brain was documenting life signs, hazard levels of teetering buildings, and toxin levels and other such things. The remaining 3% was paralyzed in horror. There was barely any city left - the smell of blood and burnt human flesh was in the air. Genos felt sick.

Yet, as always, he kept an emotionless face as he started to chase life sign after life sign, rescuing the survivors from certain death.

' _I know I hope to one day understand how one human is physically capable of this much destruction...but I will never know how one human is_ willing _to take even one innocent life..much less an entire city.._ '

Hardly a day went by when Genos didn't wish he could do more. But he knew very well that there was no one in the universe that could ever match the power of the villain Saitama. He was too strong to take any damage, and could effortlessly kill with a flick of his wrist. And his speed, his stamina, endurance...no one could outpace him in any of these fields.

Genos knew this. And so he was devoted instead to doing what he could to prevent as much loss of life as possible.

For five years, now, Genos had been following Saitama at a distance, studying him from the shadows. His mind had helped him calculate patterns and routines, from everything from his fighting style to when he was most likely to go out and kill. He was able to predict with reasonable accuracy where Saitama would go and when, and did his best to be there in advance to hack into the city's siren system and broadcast the evacuation alarm.

Not everyone could get out in time of course. So Genos stayed and waited until the villain had come and gone, before venturing back out as he was doing now, and collecting the surviving victims. It was never a pleasant sight. So many gruesome injuries, broken minds and hearts.

In spite of Genos's own heart having been replaced, he still felt a pain there when he had to drag childless mothers and motherless children away from their dead family and to the waiting rescue teams.

Senseless violence. That's all it was. There was no excuse. No reason justified this sort of merciless mass execution.

Still Genos forced his anger down. Anger wouldn't help anyone here.

The only thing for him to do was to keep rescuing as many as he could before needing to recharge. It was the most valuable use of himself that he could give. One on one confrontations would be inevitably lethal. Genos had seen far too many heroes crushed or blown apart or…

He felt nauseous recalling any of those deaths. If other heroes would do as he did, and help from the shadows, there would be less lives lost. But other heroes didn't seem to have Genos's sense of self-preservation. They would fight petty criminals and small villains in one city until their egos outweighed their common sense, and they would boldly rush to the scene to confront Saitama.

The villain only ever seemed bored as he smeared them over the ground and buildings with one simple, disinterested motion.

A shudder went down Genos's spine, and he rubbed the back of his neck to get rid of the ghost sensation it had left behind. He was lucky to never have had Saitama's attention on him, and yet so many fools yelled at him _demanding_ his fatal gaze. Genos didn't understand why anyone would willingly so much as step into his line of sight.

Until he turned the corner following a group of life signs, and saw a figure of black and red standing in front of a terrified huddle.

Saitama didn't know what hit him until after he'd been body slammed to two blocks away, not the slightest bit harmed. He blinked, and then stared as someone scrambled off of him and backed up a few paces.

Slowly Saitama stood up, brushing off his suit in small motions, starting at his shoulders and working his way down.

Genos couldn't sense himself breathing as he held a defensive pose, posture relaxed only because he knew he'd start shaking if he tensed any muscles.

What had just happened?

One moment it had been a standard search and rescue and then…

Genos's cyborg eye scanned over the villain, taking readings and confirming that it was real while his mind screamed for it to be a nightmarish hallucination. Just briefly he looked over his shoulder, long enough see the rescued group fleeing into the distance as fast as they could.

Saitama gave an annoyed sigh, and Genos's gaze snapped back forward, his optic and pupil contracting.

"You couldn't even have the decency to give your stupid speech while I had something interesting to do?" Saitama complained, shaking out his belt. Brushing off dust had become less predictable than the monologues prepared by the idiot heroes he faced.

Genos didn't respond. He didn't desire to have so much as a _word_ of conversation with this monster. He adjusted his stance, doing his best to ignore the human part of his mind that was screaming in fear and instead focusing on a simple goal - distract the villain long enough for the citizens to reach safety. Secondary objective - escape with life if possible.

"Huh." Saitama squinted at the silent cyborg. "Nothing to say?" That was unusual. He shrugged. "Well, I won't complain." And he darted forward.

That was usually finished with a single blow and his opponent scattered to bits over whatever remained of the landscape. However Saitama noted a distinct lack of metal or flesh carpeting, and turned to see that the cyborg had...dodged.

Not flawlessly - there were noticeable scrapes in one of his metal arms - but nevertheless. The nobody was now crouched, yellow eyes wide and bright as his scanners read the villain's body language and tried to anticipate his next move. Genos hadn't been faster than Saitama. He'd only known to move even before Saitama did, and thus had barely avoided the deadly strike.

"...huh." Saitama slowly turned, looking the hero over again. "That's a first." He congratulated. "Maybe it was just luck on your part."

Still the cyborg offered no reply, and instead readied himself again, darting left when Saitama lunged again. This time his feet were knocked out from under him and he was sent rolling several yards, crashing through the remains of a cement wall before reaching a stop. Thankfully the body the doctor had made him was durable, and Genos was able to once again get back onto his feet.

He did so to the unnerving sound of Saitama laughing.

"Oh man! You really are quick!" He approached Genos almost eagerly, and the cyborg scrambled to back up in response. Saitama didn't seem to notice or care. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you'll smear same as everyone else when I get my hands on you, but at least you're not making that first step easy!"

Genos observed the wide, genuine grin on the villain's face and felt uncomfortable. For if the expression hadn't been framed in the devastation he'd caused, Saitama's smile may have actually been warm. As it were, however, it only chilled what little of Genos's flesh remained.

Saitama rubbed his hands together, grin widening further. "I wonder how long you can keep it up?"

Nineteen minutes and seventeen seconds is what Genos calculated the survivors to need, taking their current physical states into account. He needed to hold out for just that long. He _had_ to.

The ruins of buildings that had framed the arena between the cyborg and the villain were now dust beneath Saitama's feet and Genos's shaking limbs. Twenty-one minutes and forty seconds. Genos could barely hold his upper body off of the ground now, but he could cling to the relief of knowing he'd bought enough time.

He winced one eye as he watched a mix of blood and oil drip onto the ground beneath him. He'd never been meant for fighting. But perhaps that was the best - if he'd learned to trust in his own strength in combat, he might have become arrogant and reckless over time. Even if he was little more than a slight hassle in combat, at least he'd avoided it for as long as he did. And when he'd been forced into it, he'd put all of his efforts into dodging and letting Saitama come upon his own damage, rather than foolishly thinking he could inflict so much as a papercut on the villain.

And that meant that he'd bought as much time as possible. Genos repeated this to himself over and over in his head, trying to only think of the lives he'd saved as he hazily registered Saitama's approaching footsteps.

' _I don't want to die.'_ In spite of his best efforts, the thought came clearly to the forefront of Genos's mind. He swallowed, finding it uncomfortable how poorly his metal body was able to help him cope with feelings. Physical ones weren't a problem. Pain was something he was sensing plenty of. But emotions no longer could be fully expressed. His fear couldn't manifest into a knot in his stomach or a rush in his heart or goosebumps...it was trapped in his brain, knocking around like a bug in a jar. It made him feel claustrophobic in his own body.

A scream or even a whimper would help release some of it, but he refused. If he was going to die he at least wanted a death that seemed brave.

Genos grunted as a red boot stepped on his head and forced his temple into the dirt, the fingers of his one attached arm bunching up.

"Hang on." Saitama said, as though he was taking an extra few seconds to adjust his nonexistent hair before an outing rather than delaying a gruesome and lonely execution.

The cyborg squinted up as best he could to see what the villain was doing. ' _Is he..on his phone?'_

Saitama was indeed scrolling through a website, finger flicking up every few moments. "Hero Association..cyborg...Metal Knight? No, his picture looks nothing like you...you're probably not class S anyway. Yeah you're fast but not really much of a fighter. Class B maybe?"

' _What is he doing? Trying to find me in the Hero Registry? Why?'_

"There's only like ten guys in B class. Guess I've really reduced the numbers. You're not any of them." Saitama looked down at the sparking cyborg under his foot. "..oh. Yeah I guess I could just ask you. Do you talk?"

Genos was too fried and confused to consider responding, and Saitama quickly decided to find out himself if Genos made noise by leaning down, gripping his gaping shoulder socket and twisting his fingers inside.

If Genos hadn't been so tired, and the attack hadn't been so unexpected, he could have grit his teeth and stayed silent. But he was weak and caught off guard, and thus a sharp cry of pain was elicited. His chin dropped back to his sternum when Saitama withdrew, gasping as quietly as possible and trembling when he was dropped to the ground. He laid on his back, staring up at the villain, who was grinning smugly.

"Aha. So you're not mute." Saitama crossed his arms, tilting up his chin. "It's nice to have a hero that shuts up for once, but ignoring me is kinda mean." Stepping back, he sat down cross-legged by Genos's head, resting his chin in his hands and leaning forward just enough that his face was in the cyborg's vision. "Normally I don't care, but since you're the only thing that's been anything but totally effortless to get rid of in the last...four years? I'm curious. Who are you?"

Genos swallowed subtly. "Nobody."

Looking unamused and then suddenly expressionless, Saitama chose to express his displeasure by digging three fingers into a gaping hole in Genos's side and twisting them around the various wires he felt there. Genos screamed, back arching and remaining limbs twitching violently. Unlike the first time, Saitama didn't remove his hand at the first sound Genos made. Instead he continued slowly twisting and tugging for several seconds, blank eyes fixed on the cyborg's face.

 **"** _ **Genos!"**_ Genos finally choked out. **"** _ **G-Genos m-my n**_ _ame_ _is_ G-Genos.." He squeezed his eyes shut, yelping as Saitama withdrew in an abrupt motion and biting down on his lip.

"So dramatic." Saitama monotoned. "But still more interesting than vague answers. I'll resort to more cat's cradle with your insides if you bore me again. Okay?"

It wasn't a request for permission, even though it was framed like it. It was a warning. Genos nodded, forcing his rapid, shallow breaths to deepen to keep himself calm. "I-I understand.." He responded, struggling to keep his voice from sounding too small.

Lips twitching upwards in a friendly smile again, Saitama folded his fingers under his chin and put his elbows back on his knees. "Great. So, where are you from?"

Genos doubted saying the name of his town would help, considering how obliterated it was. "I was born outside City [insert whatever letter here is accurate to canon]."

"Huh. Okay. Where'd the cyborg parts come from?"

"A man named Dr. Kuseno gave them to me." Genos closed his eyes, feeling weary. He wasn't sure how much longer his core's power was going to last - he couldn't get clear readings, as the damage to his body made them fluctuate.

Saitama snapped his fingers a couple times. "Hey, you're not falling asleep on me, are you?"

"No. Not yet."

"Oh, okay. Good." Saitama shifted in place a little. "So why'd he modify you? Was it one of those mad scientist kinda things? Were you kidnapped?"

"No. He found me injured,"

 _Trapped under bloody rubble, my family crushed around me, dead eyes staring at me._

"after he heard me calling for help,"

 _Screaming. Crying. Begging for my family to be okay right to their lifeless faces. Pleading for it to be a bad dream. Yelling that it hurts, it hurts, someone please make it stop, I don't want to die._

"and took me to his lab, replacing everything that could not be healed with robotic parts."

 _Apologizing for not having any more pain killers on hand, having used the last of his supply on other survivors. Having to restrain me so tightly I could barely twitch so I wouldn't thrash at the agony. Being forced to gag me because the screaming was making it impossible for him to concentrate enough to save my life. Covering my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch him carving out my heart and replacing it._

"...well that was nice of him." Saitama said after a pause. "Must have been a pretty bad injury though, since like...ninety percent of you is robot. What happened?"

So much for being able to avoid the topic entirely. Genos took a quick, deep breath. "My town was destroyed, and I was nearly crushed to death under the rubble of my home."

"Oh." Saitama cleared his throat a little. "Yeah that would do it." Thankfully he didn't press further about particulars. "Still, I've fought cyborgs before - way better ones. Ones actually meant for fighting. And they only lasted a second. How did you survive so long? How are you so fast?"

Genos wanted to say silent, or to lie, but his entire body jolted again as another spark went through him, and he was reminded that he didn't have much time left alive anyway. "I've studied you."

Saitama blinked. "..huh?"

"I...I've been following you. For..for four years." Genos dug the fingers of his hand into the ground a little, partly to steady himself and partly in response to another glitch of pain. "Always in the shadows...trying to figure out a pattern to your...your movements. I..I know that no one can fight you and survive..much less even hurt you...so I didn't try. Instead I..I wanted to focus my efforts on preventing as much loss of life as I could."

Cautiously Genos opened his eyes again, only letting his gaze linger on the villain's face for a moment before instead watching the sky. He was quiet for a moment, to see if Saitama would interject.

But he didn't. And so Genos continued. "Over time I have..been able to run calculations, and...estimate when and where you are next likely to strike. I followed you, and rescued whomever I could." Genos swallowed a bit, feeling an urge to take in a deep breath even though his artificial lungs were too badly damaged to allow him to do so. "I am not..faster than you. I merely..dodged before you moved...sometimes I would..witness you fighting a hero or villain that challenged you. I would study how you fought, and..so I was able to predict with 94% accuracy how you were most likely to strike.."

It was, perhaps, foolish to be telling all of this to the villain. But Genos felt so very tired, and also very sure of his impending death. And with how alone he has been for the past four years, avoiding any connections to keep away from gaining attention...it was selfish, but he wanted to tell _someone..._ he wanted at least one person to know how hard he had tried in this world that was constantly trembling in fear of its own destruction, where no one lived in peace except for the one man who was capable of leveling the entire planet if he had a bad day.

Genos didn't know if he had even made much of a difference. Maybe everyone he'd saved from one city had just been killed at Saitama's next fit. Maybe there wasn't any difference to make in a world like this at all. But he'd tried. He'd had to.

The cyborg watched smoke curl up into the sky and disappear, brow furrowing as he slowly closed his eyes again, power flickering at 1%. If he'd kept just one family together, even only for an hour...it was enough.

"..huh." Saitama finally spoke, standing up straight and cracking his back. "So you're like...a stalker." He paced alongside the length of Genos's body. "..explains why you punted me through a wall, though..after four years of just spying on me like a creep. You were trying to protect those citizens I was looking at, right?" Saitama leaned over the almost entirely unresponsive cyborg's body, arms crossed behind his back. "...I can still kill them, you know."

Genos's eyes snapped back open.

"Right from here. Wouldn't even be hard. I'd just need to flick my wrist." He stretched out his arm in the direction the civilians had run, hand poised to do just that. "It'd send whatever buildings are left standing down onto them. I guess the lucky ones would get squished immediately. Unlucky ones would be trapped until they bled out or died of dehydration or thirst. Probably stuck with a bunch of dead bodies-"

" _No_!" Genos's voice glitched as he yelled, body jerking in protest at the harsh volume that his throat clearly wasn't prepared to support. "No! Please!"

Saitama's relaxed smile was gone. His eyes were back to being emotionless, sharp and focused in on the cyborg's face. "How will you stop me? Nobody can stop me. You can't even twitch your own toes right now. What could you do to me? What can _anybody_ do to me? Nothing." He stood up straight again, turning to face the speck of a crowd in his line of vision. "No one is strong enough."

" _I'll̶ ̸d̴o whate̸v̴e̴r̸ you w̷̢͔͕͇̽a̶̤͒͘nt_!" Genos struggled to sit up, fingers briefly scraping at the fabric around Saitama's ankle as he tried to grab hold, only for his body to collapse and spasm a bit more. He barely had the energy to plead for innocent lives. "P-pl̵͚͙̣͊̃ͅe̸̜̜̲̯̓̋͝ase̴..S-Saitama, sir, ple̴ase̴ I'll ̸̸d̴o an̷y̷t̵hing.."

The villain paused. He glanced down at his ankle, still feeling the ghost sensation of those broken metal fingers where Genos had touched him ( _touched_ him, when was the last time anyone _dared_ to _touch_ him?), before turning to look at the glitching cyborg on the ground.

It was really pathetic. But that's what made it so amusing. "I can have anything I want, Genos. I'm the most powerful thing on this planet. What do you think you can give me that's so great I'll change my mind?" The words were unencouraging, but that faint smile was back in his eyes.

All Genos could do was shake his head. He had nothing material to give Saitama - Genos owned nothing. He got by on food by scavenging from destroyed restaurants and supermarkets, same as clothing.

That wasn't what appealed to the villain, though. He didn't care that Genos could only offer up the scrap metal he was made of - he was simply delighted that, if he asked for it, Genos _would_ give it to him. He'd rip himself to pieces and pull out his own heart if Saitama said it would make him spare even one life.

It was the sort of sickeningly good boy scout kind of heroic attitude that Saitama just didn't see anymore.

He laughed at the desperation in Genos's eyes, letting his arm flop back against his side and turning back around again. "Cute." He grinned, watching Genos's one robotic eye flicker before they began slowly dimming, the other closing. "Don't worry about it, Genos." He gripped the cyborg by the hair and began dragging him away, walking with a bit more skip in his step than usual. "I'll think of something."


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up was very disconcerting, when Genos hadn't been expecting to ever do so again. His power core had run out - how could he possibly be waking up?

The cyborg sat up, gasping quietly and holding a hand over his chest. Every movement still ached. A quick self-diagnosis revealed that he was in much the same condition as he had been when he passed out. The only difference was his power, which was at 35% now.

'How..?' Genos shifted further, and then noted that there was something plugged into the bottom of his left leg (which was mostly mechanical compared to his right) in the sole of his foot. He reached forward to tug it out, and paused when something dropped off from his sweaty forehead. It was a sticky note.

Squinting, Genos picked it up and flipped it over to read it.

Patch urself up

Before Genos could ask himself and the mysterious note writer 'with what?', he surveyed his surroundings, and realized he was actually lying on top of an enormous pile of various kinds of scrap. Electronic, mechanical, and even some fabrics thrown in around the bottom.

Genos was baffled. The last thing he remembered was trying to plead for the lives of citizens from Saitama, and then his core's power had failed. Who had found him? Who had brought him here?

There was no way to find an answer except for doing as the note said and repairing himself. Though he wasn't sure how to find the person who brought him-oh, another note on his knee. He picked it up.

P.S room 15C

Oh. Genos glanced around the large room again - it looked more like a lobby, actually, now that he observed it properly. Was this a hotel? No...more likely an apartment complex.

His movement to get up was impeded when he saw a third note on his shin. He repressed a sigh when he picked it up.

P.P.S pls bring charger back

Dutifully Genos wrapped the cord around the adapter and put it carefully in his pocket, before shifting onto his knees and beginning to go through the scrap. This would likely take awhile - best to get started as soon as possible, before more sticky notes could rain from the ceiling or something.

It took approximately 18 hours before Genos finished affixing the last bit of replacement metal sheet over his limbs. He'd found his missing arm amongst the pile, which was a relief - he wasn't sure he would have been able to build an entirely new one. Only Kuseno knew how to do that, and Genos had no idea where he was or if he was still alive.

He still staggered a bit as he walked, but he attributed that to fatigue. His core power was down to 25% now, and he felt he could do with a bit of sleep. And so with the apartment number note in his hand, and the charger in his pocket, the repaired cyborg climbed his way up the first flight of stairs to go thank his rescuer. And possibly get something to eat and drink...his throat felt unbearably raw, and his systems were insisting on him getting something for it to digest and turn into energy.

The stairwell was empty, unsurprisingly, but as Genos passed the first two flights, he couldn't help but notice how quiet it was here. How many people lived here? After all he'd been dumped in the lobby atop a gigantic pile of scrap metal and wasn't disturbed for 18 hours, plus however long he'd been unconscious. Was this complex abandoned? And if so who was living here? Who would live here?

Genos reached floor C and exited the door out onto the balcony. He shielded his biological eye from the evening sunlight, glancing over the railing and freezing in place.

Devastation served as the building's panoramic view, scenes of crumbling, empty buildings and flattened lots filled with nothing but dust and human bones. There wasn't a single sound from the street below, nor any movement. He did a scan for life signs outside the apartment building and came up blank. There was no one in this town.

He swallowed and forced himself to turn his gaze away from the chilling scene, refocusing himself on his current mission. Genos tapped a finger against the charger in his pocket, and began walking down the balcony past the multiple apartments, heading for the one at the end. The cyborg noted the number of doors that were open, a few of them just hanging on their hinges. He stopped to peer into one, and noted that it looked abandoned - blankets and pillows on the couch, some shoes by the door, a few toys left in the hall..but it also looked looted through. The pantry door was ajar, as were most doors on the kitchen cupboards, and both revealed empty shelves.

'This place has been evacuated…' Genos noted, closing the doors and absently gathering up the discarded toys and setting them on the coffee table. 'This family fled in a hurry...did they make it to safety?' It was a question he would never know the answer to, but knowing the statistics he did about the survival rate of disaster victims in this world...maybe it was for the best.

He exited the apartment, shutting the door behind him. His eyes went to the left, where 15C was, at the end of the row. 'So who still lives here? If it has been evacuated, and no one else has returned, then there must be a reason this place is still dangerous.'

Instincts screamed at Genos to flee while he still could, while he was assumed to be still unconscious in the lobby, but he persisted. There weren't many people out there that would willingly assist another like this person had with Genos. It would be valuable to know such an individual, and to show appreciation for what they had done for him. Even if all he could give was a thanks, and a returned phone charger.

Genos was further encouraged by the smell of food coming from underneath the door of apartment 15C. He took a deep breath, released it, and then knocked.

He was barely able to make out a garbled 'It's open!', likely coming from someone with a mouth full of food. Genos tested the handle and found that the dweller's statement proved true. The cyborg entered quietly, respectfully closed the door behind him, and then once again froze.

Saitama leaned his head back (the shininess of it had been the giveaway though Genos valued his life and so would never state that outloud) and gave a wave, slurping up the remaining noodles that hung from his lips. "Hey! You're all patched up? Good. You bring my phone charger back?"

Genos reached into his pocket and pulled out the item in question, walking forward and silently handing it back. He flinched a little when Saitama snatched it, dove for the wall, and slammed it into his phone. " Ah ! Just in time..I was at 1%. Whew.."

The cyborg only grew more tense as the pajama clad nightmare of humanity stood up, brushing off some crumbs from something from his sleeve, and turning around to face Genos properly. He looked him up and down. "Your clothes are a bit torn up still but you're all back to normal besides that, right?"

It took Genos a good couple of seconds before he could force his mouth to move. "Yes."

"Great. Man, you know you were out for.." Saitama scratched at the back of his head in thought, having to go back to his phone to check. "Oh man. Five days?"

That math added up in Genos's head pretty well. Though he had no idea there had been a place for a phone charger in the bottom of his foot. Saitama must have somehow found it himself. The idea was vastly uncomfortable.

"I probably would have forgotten about you if you didn't have my phone charger. I went down there a few times to borrow it for a bit." Saitama sat back down on his couch, picking up his bowl of noodles from the floor. "I was pretty sure you were dead at first, but then your…" Saitama made a vague gesture at Genos's chest, causing the cyborg to flinch again. "..thingy started glowing again. So I guess you probably just needed a lot of time. Do you usually charge up with a..?" He pointed at his phone.

Slowly Genos shook his head. "...no...sleeping allows my power core to recharge. Just not when my power reaches zero.."

"Oh." Saitama tilted his head. "You sleep?"

"Yes. I am still human."

"Not mostly though. Right?"

Genos briefly clenched his jaw. "I still have an organic brain, which requires sleep." This entire scenario was becoming surreal. He was having trouble connecting this casual, striped-pajama wearer to the powerful, city-destroying menace that his optic was repeatedly informing him of. The warning alert that Genos had programmed his system to give whenever the man was in sight was becoming annoying now, and he silently deactivated it so his headache wouldn't get any worse.

"Oh."

Genos stayed standing where he was, eyes fixated on Saitama and not blinking - he couldn't dare.

Saitama grimaced, eyes narrowing a bit. "Would you quit that? You're creeping me out."

"...quit what?"

"Staring at me like that."

"..."

"...oh. I get it." Saitama smirked a little and leaned back on the couch. "You're waiting for me to like..punch you through the floor or something, right?"

Genos didn't respond.

Saitama waved his hand dismissively. "No. I like this apartment. I wouldn't wreck it like that."

"..I see."

Saitama rolled his eyes, sticking the last forkful of noodles into his mouth. He'd found Genos's avoidance of monologues a nice refresher from heros that usually talked his ear off, having a higher chance of boring him to death than by beating him in combat. But a minimalist was apparently just as dull.

'Ugh. I don't know what I was thinking...this guy isn't being interesting at all. He's just standing there, staring at me like he's apparently been doing for the last five years. Maybe I should just take him to the balcony and-'

"May I.." Genos began, pausing and glancing to the side before continuing. "...may I please have something to eat?"

Saitama blinked. "...you eat too?"

"Yes."

"...huh. What about drinking? Do you need water too?"

"Yes."

"And you've been out for five days! Sheesh, how are you alive?" Saitama got up, wandering into his kitchen and trying to find a clean glass.

"I don't need sustenance as often as a…'full human'." Genos turned to keep watching Saitama, not sure how to feel about the fact that Saitama seemed genuinely concerned about his 'guest' - Genos wasn't sure what other word to use to describe himself in his current situation.

"That's pretty convenient, since you'd be dead otherwise." Saitama was forced to rapidly scrub out a cup from the pile in the sink, rinsing it a few times and then filling it and handing it to Genos. "There."

"Thank you." Genos took the mug and drank quickly enough that Saitama decided to turn the tap back on and step aside, gesturing Genos to his sink to refill as many times as he needed while he rooted around in the pantry for something to feed him.

It took a whole minute at the sink, doing nothing but refilling and drinking, before Genos satisfied his thirst. He wiped his mouth and set the cup aside when he finished, turning to Saitama and giving a small bow with his head. "Thank you."

"..yeah." Saitama eyed him, and then awkwardly held up an instant noodle bowl. "..you know how to make these?"

"Yes. I've learned to cook all sorts of meals." Genos nodded, accepting the bowl and peeling it open.

"Great. You're making breakfast tomorrow then." Saitama informed him, wandering off back to the living room and flumping down on his couch again. "Hope my phone has a decent charge by now…"

Genos stared after him, baffled by the proclamation/order. He was expected to stay the night?

A low core power notification from his system reminded him that he was running low, and Genos doubted he would get far enough away to be safe before his power ran out. Silently he resumed cooking the small meal, overriding his system to allow him to stay awake past 25% power, as he had in his fight with Saitama. Hopefully this time he wouldn't lose power completely before he could get to bed.

Saitama peered at him from time to time over his phone as Genos cooked the noodles, eating them quickly but not requesting anything else after. Whether that was because it was all he needed as a cyborg or because he was too polite or scared to ask for more, Saitama wasn't sure - but it'd be interesting to wait and see how long it would take Genos to ask him for more food, or if he'd just wait until breakfast.

"..so.." Saitama began, unable to help a small, mischievous smirk when he saw how the sudden interjection of his voice made Genos jump a little. "Since you apparently sleep, you can take the couch tonight. It's only a one bedroom apartment so.."

Genos, who had been standing stock still with his head turned just enough to watch Saitama out of his optic, nodded slowly. "Thank you."

"Yep." Saitama got up, taking his phone charger and current manga comic with him as he strolled down the hall to his room. "Sleep well!" He chirped, giving a slight bap to Genos's shoulder with his comic and snickering a little to himself at how much that made the cyborg jump.

Yeah. This would be decently amusing. For now.


	3. Chapter 3

Genos was accustomed to sleeping and waking up in strange places. More than once he'd had no choice but to lie down amidst rubble and go to sleep at his power core's behest. He'd once constructed a pitiful shelter of take-out boxes and gone to sleep with his head on a bag of dry rice. He'd fallen asleep standing up against a wall after locking his robotic joints into position when the only shelter from the torrential rainfall had been a narrow bit of roof that his form barely fit under. While chaos reigned in nearby cities, Genos would lie down to sleep in the fields of the farms that lay just outside.

None of those unusual situations felt comparable to this - lying down on the couch of Saitama, the world destroyer, and waking up gently to rays of sunshine on his face and even a few birds outside..

When Genos's power core reached 100%, he sat up and felt like he was falling into a dream. He felt so detached from the situation, it was as though he wasn't in charge of the motions of his own body as he got up, straightened out the pillows on the couch and folded the blanket.

His mind simply didn't want to be fully aware of his...current circumstances. That would mean having to plan and take some sort of action in regards to it, and that was the last thing Genos wanted to do right now, or ever. Action wasn't taken against Saitama without immediate bloodshed, and Genos had no desire to die.

He couldn't just _stay here_ , though, in Saitama's apartment. At some point, Genos would need to _try_ and plan some sort of escape-

"Breakfast." Genos muttered quietly, interrupting himself before he could start along a train of thought that would put him into a state of anxiety. Until he had a better idea of the parameters of his stay here, or at least a full stomach, there was no sane plan to make.

Well, there was _one_ sane plan. To do as he'd been ordered to do last night, and make breakfast.

Genos closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, exhaled gradually, and then turned on his heel and marched into the kitchen. Focus on present tasks, keep all thoughts practical and relevant to a physical action. That was how he avoided panic and stress. It had helped him through chaotic situations before - aftermaths of demon level threats, panicked evacuations from cities that turned crowds into a deadly stampede, escaping from persistent, hungry monsters.

He could definitely handle the stress of making a simple breakfast for S-...for the occupants of this apartment.

The cyborg checked the time on the microwave - 5:43am. Sai-... his host, likely wouldn't be awake for a bit yet. Hopefully that gave Genos enough time to come up with a good meal. He still knew how to make miso soup, and probably Sa- _the person hosti̶n̸g̷ ̵h̸i̶m̵-!_

Genos squeezed his eyes shut and clutched his temples, breathing in and out hard through his nose. His chin was trembling and he felt his human eye watering dangerously. He was fighting so hard to ignore it, but the elephant in the room was getting larger and as hard as he tried, Genos felt himself beginning to lose to an anxiety attack.

He was in the apartment of a mass murderer. He was one hallway away from the man that had almost killed him. He'd been kidnapped by the most powerful being in the world, slept on his couch, and had to make breakfast for him. He didn't know if he was going to be alive by lunch time. He didn't know if he was allowed to leave or if he'd be effortlessly chased down and smashed to pieces.

Genos sank to his knees on the kitchen tiles, still stubbornly biting on his lip and tightening his chest to hold back sobs. Against his will, the program in his optic meant for detecting and alerting him of Saitama's proximity, turned back on in response to the cyborg's panic. Seeing the glowing red heat signature of the sleeping figure a few rooms over did _not_ help his panic, and he held a hand over the optic to block out the image with his palm.

A desperate gesture that didn't work, since that hand was metal and his heat detection looked right through it. So instead Genos turned his chin further down to the floor, removing the image from his line of sight entirely. Not that that did anything to change the fact that he was _right there_ and at any moment he could-...

Genos blinked, optic whirring nearly silently and shifting to focus on the plastic cup lying on the floor. He picked it up, and then looked up to see where it came from. Ah. It must have fallen from the counter... absolutely crowded with dirty plates and bowls...Genos wouldn't be able to cook like this.

Drawing his wrist across his human eye without thinking about it, Genos stepped forward and began strategically piling things to free up the sink and the drying rack. Where would the dish soap be..?

* * *

Saitama wasn't exactly the type of guy to get roaring drunk and end up in unfamiliar places. So when he emerged from his room, yawning and stretching his arms over his head, he froze in place in the hall and actually had a few seconds of confused panic when he couldn't recognize where he was.

Then the last of his sleep daze faded, and Saitama was able to safely come to the conclusion that this _was_ in fact, his apartment. It was just...freakishly clean.

And it smelled amazing.

He peeked around the corner, blinking and letting out an 'oh' at the sight of the cyborg bent over the stove. "Right, I forgot about y-"

Genos leapt back from the stove, optic whirring loud enough for Saitama to hear, and braced himself against the counter, fixating his gaze on the villain with every muscle tensed.

Saitama had a hand on Genos's shoulder with an unforgiving grip in seconds, his expression abruptly shifting to a serious one. "Not thinking of bolting are you?"

Genos was frozen, but Saitama could feel the slight tremor of his muscles under his hand. He barely kept a smile from twitching up. "Well?"

"N..no. No Saitama sir. You just startled me is all." Genos managed to get out.

"Good." Saitama's expression abruptly went neutral again and he looked at the stove. "Cause that's smelling good. Is it finished?"

"A-almost, Saitama sir."

"Can you not call me sir?"

"Master Saitama!"

"Definitely not that either!" Saitama gave him a weird look. "Geez, you're weird."

"S..s-sorry."

Saitama waved it off with an 'eh', wandering off to the living room and sitting down on the couch. Genos went back to cooking without another word, though he was noticeably tense now.

"...did you clean my windows?"

"Yes!"

The intensity of Genos's voice made Saitama jolt a little in surprise. "...what for? I asked for breakfast not room service."

"I...I needed the kitchen cleared. So I could cook. There wasn't room. And so I...I cleaned. Everything. It-" Genos turned around and found Saitama standing right behind him, eyes narrowed again.

"Hey. You callin' me a slob?"

Genos's pupils contracted.

Saitama snorted and lightly smacked Genos's shoulder, earning a sharp flinch. "Guess it has been a few months since I cleaned up." He leaned to the side to look at the bubbling pot on the stove. "That done now? I'm hungry."

Genos took in a slow breath, swallowing and nodding. "Y-yes."

"Great!" Saitama grabbed a bowl, raising his eyebrows when he saw they were all clean. "Let's eat."

* * *

Genos was the physical manifestation of 'uncomfortable' as he knelt across the coffee table from Saitama, who had a hand over his mouth and was staring at the bowl that he'd just taken a bite from. The cyborg's hands were clenched tightly in his lap, and he hadn't taken a breath in the last minute.

Eventually he couldn't tolerate the silence anymore. If he was going to be killed for making an unsatisfactory meal he'd rather get it over with than sit here with this tension for another minute. "Is...i-is there something wrong with the soup…?"

Saitama took in a breath and cleared his throat. "Sorry. I'd...forgotten what not-instant food tasted like." He promptly shoved another spoonful into his mouth.

"...so then, it wasn't so awful you started crying?"

The villain's head snapped up from the bowl. "Hey! I wasn't crying! I was just appreciating...culinary arts!"

"...it..it's only miso soup."

"Shut up!" Saitama sat back against the couch, taking his bowl with him and looking more than a little resentful as he continued eating.

Genos flinched, but felt a little secure in the knowledge that his breakfast was acting as a temporary guard for his life. He carefully began eating from his own bowl, trying not to stare at Saitama but unable to keep from glancing up from time to time.

Saitama gave a satisfied sigh when he finished, putting the empty bowl on the ground next to him. "Alright, that was good. Not good enough to cry over but pretty good."

"...thank you." Genos said quietly, keeping his eyes on his bowl permanently now that Saitama's attention was back on him fully.

The villain put one foot on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch, picking at his teeth with his pinkie and eyeing Genos. "I kinda thought you'd have made a run for it. It was sorta surprising to see you here still."

"...my core was low on energy. I required several hours of sleep mode to restore myself to full power." Genos stirred the spoon around his empty bowl idly. "By the time I woke up, it was late enough in the morning that I knew you would be awake in only a few hours."

Saitama narrowed his eyes. "You saying you would have run otherwise?"

"..." Genos raised his head and made eye contact. "Yes."

The villain raised his eyebrows. "Pretty stupidly honest of you."

"Would you have believed me if I tried to lie and tell you I planned on staying?"

"...fair point I guess." Saitama crossed his arms, tilting his head. "That still doesn't make sense though. Anyone else would have tried to run, or lie to me about it."

"...have you brought anyone else back to your home before?" Genos's brow furrowed deeply at the distressing thought. He knew he certainly wouldn't wish his predicament upon anyone else.

"...uh, well, no." Saitama cleared his throat. "But I'm pretty sure I'm right."

Genos was tempted to ask Saitama what on Earth his point had been either way, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Saitama wouldn't have an answer. This man really _had_ gone a long time without a decent social interaction.

Instead of responding verbally, Genos merely nodded and picked up his bowl, standing up. He hesitated, like he would around a dangerous wild animal, and then picked up Saitama's bowl from next to him as well.

Saitama blinked and watched Genos carry the dishes to the sink and begin to wash them. "...huh. You know…" He stood up, grinning again when he saw Genos immediately grow tense as he approached. "The plan was to take you out back after breakfast, and, you know. 'Put you down'."

Genos swallowed.

"I kinda picked you up on an impulse yesterday. Uh, brought you home I mean." Saitama worked quickly through that poor choice of words. "When you finally showed up yesterday, I thought it through and decided I didn't really want the trouble of dealing with a new pet."

"I...I'll gladly be on my way-" Genos tried.

A strong hand gripped his shoulder, and the next thing Genos knew, he'd been thrown violently onto his back on the kitchen floor. He stared up at the form silhouetted by the bright kitchen lights, core whirring loudly in his chest.

"...don't interrupt me." Saitama said after a moment, leaning against the kitchen counter and looking down at Genos with that emotionless face that terrified the cyborg speechless. "...anyway. Like I said. Killing you _was_ the plan. But." The villain glanced around his spotless apartment. "...I kinda like this situation. Pretty smart of you to make an argument for your life and not just breakfast." He crouched down over Genos and gave a brief pat to his cheek. "Keep it up." He straightened and headed for his room. "...y'know. Or else and whatever."

The door to the bathroom closed, and Genos stayed lying on the ground for a minute longer, holding his chest, before leaping to his feet and scrubbing out the breakfast bowls at a frantic pace.

So much for planning to escape...now he needed to plan for survival.


End file.
